Chapter Insights

How can Association Management Software Help your Chapter?

If we asked how many different systems you use to manage the intricacies of your chapter, how would you respond? One? Three? Five? Would you even know? Most chapters use several different databases and systems – free and paid– to manage areas like:

Membership

Outreach

Fundraising

Communications

You may think your systems work well together. But, do they really?

Does this example sound familiar?

Let’s say you need three different versions of an email about an upcoming educational event. You want:

One for members with more than 10 years’ experience in their industry

One for members in their first job right out of college

One for prospects who’ve attended chapter meetings.

Three emails mean you need three different audience segments. It also means you need to be certain before you hit send that each person will get the right, personalized email. How long will it take to write three different communications, create three segmented lists, and send these emails out?

That just covers the initial announcement. What about:

Sending reminders

Placing an announcement on your website

Tracking responses by group

Managing registrations

Taking payment

Following up after the event?

In your current environment, how much time would all this take, how easy would it be, and how many people would you need? Think of the bottlenecks you experience when it comes to notifying several different audiences about upcoming events. What happens when someone goes on vacation? Who pulls together the audience lists in his or her absence? Who updates the website? Who sends out the emails?

How can association management software help?

Think about how time consuming and complex managing your chapter can be with several systems. What if, instead of several systems that don’t talk easily with each other, if at all, you could use one system to manage your chapter processes from one central location?

By using a single association management software (AMS) platform to gather, store, and retrieve information, you’ll decrease the time it takes to complete projects, require less time from less volunteers, and get things right the first time.

In addition to decreasing those opportunity costs, an AMS can provide:

When all the data is in one place, there’s no risk of data differing by location. Each time member and/or prospect information is accessed, it’s the same, regardless of whether the information is pulled for membership or fundraising.

Easily accessible information. What happens when no one from your membership committee is available and you need email lists segmented by audience? With an AMS, there’s no need to rely on one person or one committee. Anyone on the board can get the information you need.

The ability to expand your reach. With a central location for your data, and data that’s more easily accessible, you’ll get a clearer picture of your chapter. This includes things like clearly seeing revenue from members versus non-members, retention rate, and growth, all of which can help you expand your programs and service offerings.

An AMS can move you from housing disparate sources of data that’s difficult to access and maintain, to easy, straightforward access to data, process, and systems which allow you to more easily complete projects and better inform your chapter direction and long-term strategy. You’ll transform the quality of your programs and communications, decrease costs and ultimately improve the experience of your members and prospective members, expanding your reach by transforming more guests into chapter members.